NY Couple Convicted In Sesame Place Mask Attack

Levittown PA

12 July, 2021

11:30 AM

Description

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — A Bucks County jury found a New York couple guilty in the assault of a Sesame Place employee last summer after he asked them to wear a mask at the Middletown Township theme park. The District Attorney's Office said the 17-year-old worker sustained injuries that landed him in the hospital for a week after an altercation with the Bronx couple on Aug. 9, 2020. On Friday, Troy McCoy, 40, was found guilty of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, simple assault, harassment, and disorderly conduct. Shakerra Bonds, 32, was found guilty of simple assault and disorderly conduct. The DA's Office said the employee had first seen McCoy waiting in line for a ride at the park, and asked him to wear a mask in accordance with their health and safety policy at the time. Middletown Township Police say that, when McCoy yelled at the worker in response to his request, the teenager walked away to avoid a confrontation. However, the two would encounter each other again around 5 p.m. at the Captain Cookie's High C Adventure ride. The DA's office said that this time, McCoy and Bonds got off the ride and told the employee they were going to "teach [him] a lesson." The pair struck the teen on the face and knocked him to the ground until he lost consciousness, according to the DA's office. According to the charges, Bonds also punched a second employee who tried to intervene. Witnesses said McCoy continued to hit the employee after he'd passed out, and described the attack as a "sucker punch." Bonds said that she hit the employee out of self-defense and that he had been acting aggressively and scaring her children, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. An initial criminal complaint said the teen's jaw was broken in two places and had to be wired shut. "Physically, this survivor is taking it day by day even in the midst of experiencing excruciating pain and the inability to perform simple tasks, such as eating solid foods and talking," a family friend wrote in a GoFundMe campaign established for the teen last year, which to date has raised $40,694. McCoy was initially held in Bucks County Correctional Facility on $500,000 bail. The couple was found guilty Friday after a four-day trial before President Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas. The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Alan J. Garabedian and was investigated by detectives with the Middletown Township Police Department and the Bucks County District Attorney's Office. Bonds and McCoy will be sentenced in 90 days. Stay informed about what's going on in Levittown, or in your local area. Sign up for Patch emails and don't miss a minute of local and state news. Got tips, story ideas, or questions in Lower Bucks County? Email [email protected].